ruthless Definition
ruth·less (-lis)
adjective
without ruth; pitiless
Etymology: ME reutheles
ruthless Related Forms
ruthless Synonyms
ruthless
modif.
Without pity; said of persons
pitiless, unpitying, merciless, unmerciful, tigerish, feral, ferine, ferocious, stony-hearted, heartless, obdurate, cold-blooded, remorseless, vindictive, vengeful, revengeful, rancorous, implacable, unforgiving, malevolent, hardhearted, hard, cold, unsympathetic, unforbearing, vicious, sadistic; see also sense 2; cruel 2.Antonyms
merciful*, forgiving*, compassionate. * Showing little evidence of pity; said of actions, policies, etc.
savage, brutal, cruel, tyrannical, relentless, barbarous, inhuman, callous, grim, atrocious, flagrant, terrible, abominable, outrageous, inexorable, unrelenting, fiendish, oppressive, bloodthirsty, venomous, galling, dog-eat-dog; see also cruel 1.Antonyms
kind*, helpful*, civilized. See syn. study at cruel.cruel.
ruthless Usage Examples
Used with adjective complement
- become: What is also apparent is that the writers of 24 have also become ruthless.
- get: Had one gone in, it would have been game over I'm convinced, City have to get more ruthless.
- appear: His pushing Locque off the cliff, while a ruthless act, hardly makes Moore appear ruthless in my book.
- seem: Most town leaders feared what the Sea Beggars would do to their towns as they seemed as ruthless as the Spanish.
Modifies a noun
- streak: LALD was pure Moore; suave, cool, witty with a ruthless streak.
- dictator: So we had a choice to make: either take the word of a ruthless dictator, or take action to defend America.
- exploitation: Nevertheless, we have to learn that we cannot continue our ruthless exploitation of Nature.
- gangster: Who would dare attack Britain's most ruthless gangster?
- tyrant: Not only are there, and have there been, ruthless tyrants that kill and murder, like King Herod in Jesus ' day.
- suppression: Pombal's whole program, however, was executed by ruthless suppression of all opposition.
Modifying Another Word
- utterly: The partisans had been utterly ruthless with any collaborators they had caught.
- equally: The global economy has been equally ruthless with farmers in other parts of the South.
- totally: The art of using these tools and techniques is in being totally ruthless when it comes to dealing with waste.
- quite: Sky's approach has been quite ruthless in recent months " , explained BECTU Scottish Officer Paul McManus.
- absolutely: Any concessions must be balanced by an absolutely ruthless punishment of those who planned or enabled the hijack bombings.
- fairly: I've been fairly ruthless in my selection, limiting myself to only one poem per author.
Preposition: in
- front: They were ruthless in front of goal scoring 35 times in 12 games.
- pursuit: Ruthless in the pursuit of criminals, he was very mild about their punishment.
- way: Third, new style terrorism is ruthless in a way in which old style terrorism was not.
- defense: Like most feminine peoples, they had no desire to attack others, but were utterly ruthless in defense of the Motherland.
Browse dictionary entries near ruthless
- ‹ ruthful
- ‹ rutherfordium
- ‹ Rutherford atom
- ‹ rutherford
- ‹ ruthenium
- ‹ ruthenious
- ‹ ruthenic
- ‹ Ruthenian
- ‹ Ruthenia
- ‹ ruth

